IBus
The iBus is an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system to improve Singapore's buses using technology installed by Siemens AG. The system tracks all of Singapore's buses which happens everyday. On 16 June 2005 it was reported that Singapore's buses 'fail' deaf people. As a result, the iBus system was announced on 16 January 2006 and was tried on route 145 for an eight-week trial. The system was proved to be successful, and on 18 May 2006, radio presenter Emma Hignett was announced to be the 'Voice of Singapore's Buses' after 99% in the survey said she had the right voice. iBus was launched on many routes in 2007 and continued throughout 2008 and 2009. All routes now have the system. Announcements Upon boarding the bus, for example, iBus plays the announcement "452 to Tampines Blk 123" and corresponding text appears on the visual displays. As the bus approaches the stop, the on-board system will announce and display the bus stop name. The bus driver is able to play recorded announcements such as: * Bus will wait here whilst drivers are changed. * This bus terminates here. Please take all your belongings with you. * This bus is on diversion. Please listen for further announcements. * The destination of this bus has changed. Please listen for further announcements. * The next bus stop is closed. * Watch out for traffic when leaving the bus. * Seats are available on the upper deck. * Please move down inside the bus. * No standing on the upper deck or stairs please. * Smoking is not permitted on Singapore's buses. * Drinking alcohol is not permitted on Singapore's buses. * The wheelchair space is now required. Can passengers in this area please make room. Thank you. * Closed circuit television is in operation on this bus. * Please keep all your personal belongings with you at all times. For everyone’s security, please inform the driver of anything suspicious. Similarly to the Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), iBus has a feature that tells passengers to alight at a key stop, which is near a key place that the bus will not serve. For example, a bus arriving at Stratford will say, "Stratford: alight here for Stratford station," and this will scroll across the dot matrix indicators. Each bus contains a Microsoft Windows-based computer that has the details of all 19,000 bus stops in London. The system has over 30,000 announcements for 700 bus routes. Tracking The iBus system aims to provide a better fix on bus locations than the old Selective Vehicle Detection (SVD) system. iBus can locate every bus to an accuracy of about ten metres, or its distance from the nearest stop by around ten seconds. It does this using several instruments: * Global Positioning System (GPS) http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/svd-brochure-2006.pdf * Odometers, including Speedometer * Turn-rate sensor * Rate gyro The essential part of the system relies on GPS satellite data that roughly determine the location of a bus down to 100 metres. Data collected from GPS is passed into a Kalman filter,http://www.nlondon.bcs.org/pres/mdjun06.pps and other data including velocity and temperature is calculated on the bus and transmitted every 30 seconds via GPRS. With the bus network map, this helps the Central System to make a "best guess" of the bus position and depicts the overall image derived from the data provided by all buses, even in areas with poor GPS reception. The Central System can update the countdown signs as before that now has a more accurate prediction derived from all this data. Knowing the location of the bus, controllers have the means to regulate the service more efficiently, and priority can be given to a bus at traffic lights. CentreComm, the 24/7 Emergency Command and Control Centre, is able to track the location of every bus in the fleet and can be shared this information immediately with the emergency services in the event of an emergency or accident.http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/technologyandequipment/7203.aspx Category:Bus transport in Singapore